|

Stories from the lives of athletes, all pressing toward the goal found in John 3:30; “He must increase, but I must decrease”

Matt Holliday

Matt Holliday is a Major League left fielder who has played with the Rockies, the Athletics, and the Cardinals for a total of thirteen seasons. Currently he is playing for the New York Yankees. Matt is also a husband and father of four children.

Q&A

What effect does your faith have on your lifestyle?

My faith affects everything I do—how I husband, how I parent, and how I interact with my teammates. I try to model the Biblical disciplines that demonstrate what it takes to be a good husband, father, friend, and teammate. takes up the bulk of your time. Without the guidance of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit in my life marriage would be a lot more difficult, parenting would be much more frustrating, and playing baseball would not be as much fun.
I hope that as I grow closer to God I continue to be sanctified, becoming more like Jesus. My hope is that I would behave more like Him than how I myself would or how the world would have me behave. In no way did I turn into the perfect person when I first believed in Christ, but as I pursue a relationship with Him—and understand the discipline that it takes to obey Him—my lifestyle and relationships change.

Describe how your Journey with Christ began.

Ever since I can remember I’ve always thought I believed in God, but I didn’t really understand what that meant. When I was growing up, I didn’t get a chance to go to church much because my dad was a baseball coach and he was always working on Sundays; I never really knew much about God. When I got to the minor leagues, I found some really good mentors in my teammates who showed me what it looked like to be a Christ-follower. As I began to dive into God’s Word, understanding what it meant, I began to pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I can’t necessarily pinpoint a time when I gave my life over to Christ, instead my journey to Christ has been a gradual one—one where I continue to pursue and trust in Jesus.

Who have been the mentors in your life? How did God bring these people into your life?

There are times in our lives when we become the Timothy and God brings the Pauls—Christian mentors who can help lead and shape our lives to draw nearer to Christ—in our lives to mentor us. Hopefully, in turn, we can then be the Paul to another Timothy that God puts into our life, taking our turn to mentor and encourage others. When I got to the minor leagues, Jay Jones and Seth Taylor were two teammates of mine who came alongside me and were a little bit older and much further along in their faith than I was. They both came alongside me and helped me see what it looked like to walk with Christ daily. They also showed me what firm, faithful marriages looked like, which prepared me for my own marriage with Leslee.
Currently I have strong relationships with a few mentors/friends of mine such as Waino and Lance Berkman—men who have a profound effect on my life and faith in Christ.

What does the Increase of Christ mean to you?

The Increase of Christ means being able to put yourself in a proper perspective in relation to God and the Bible. The Bible is about God, not us. Jesus must increase in our minds and lives, which is the very opposite of what our culture tells us should happen. Culture tells us that everything in life is about us and what we desire for ourselves but Scripture says the opposite! Increasing Christ in our lives means that we need to put our trust in God and live our life to honor and glorify Him instead of ourselves.
We often diminish God, or visualize Him as a genie in a bottle who is waiting to grant us our wishes, but that’s not who He is. God is bigger than that and we are here to Increase His name.

What is your life verse and why?

“This is a trustworthy saying: ‘If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.’ So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?”
1 Timothy 3:1-5 talks about what it looks like to be a real man of God—the man I want to be.